Don’t Taze Me, Bro: Wyoming’s Wildest Taser Incidents

This week, Casper Police used a Taser to subdue a shoplifter at a local Walmart store. We can only hope that the suspect was screaming, "don't taze me" to the officers while they took turns zapping him in the sporting goods department.

Here's a look back at some of Wyoming's wildest taser incidents:

Perhaps the most infamous episode occurred in 2010, when Laramie Police tased University of Wyoming student, Patrick Lewallen. Unfortunately, Lewallen broke several bones in his face when his head hit the ground. He later sued the Laramie Police, who settled out of court.

Another "shocking" event took place in 2011, when the wife of an off-duty Riverton Police Officer used her personal taser during a bar fight. The victim of the attack was also arrested for assaulting a police officer after punching her husband in the face. Freemont County had to bring in a special prosecutor to avoid a conflict of interest during the criminal trial.

In 2015, a Glenrock man was tased and pepper sprayed after leading police on a high-speed chase. The intoxicated driver left a Casper restaurant without paying his bill before attempting to elude authorities on Interstate 25. When a Converse Country Sheriff Deputy ran the suspect off the road, he "flipped off" the officers and refused to leave the vehicle. After being tased, the man was forcibly removed from the car and was later taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries.

Of course, no list of Wyoming's wildest taser incidents is complete without the bizarre tale of a naked man who was tased by Casper Police in the Natrona County Library. In 2012, an employee at the America Theater called to report a man who was wearing only underwear, acting strangely and foaming at the mouth. Several calls later, the man was found in the library, sitting behind a desk and holding an upside down phone to his ear. After resisting arrest, he was tased and taken to jail.